City Government

The City Council Gets Serious About Tech

The first meeting of the Select Committee on Technology in Government, entitled "Using Technology to Make Government Smart, Cost-Effective, and Open" and headed by Councilmember Gale Brewer, offered testimony by some 15 experts on a range of issues connected to "e-government."

Efficiency The goal of city government should be to eliminate all paperwork and put everything on-line, David Birdsell of Baruch College. testified. This will take some doing. Currently only 50 percent of New Yorkers have access to the Internet from their homes.

A good start would be to use the Internet for the process by which private firms get city contracts, said Marcia Van Wagner, deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, which, she said, could save the city about $135 million a year. The recommendations are outlined in the commission's report "No Small Change" (available online in PDF format). The current procurement system wastes 12 million sheets of paper according to one estimate.

Openness While the government stores public documents electronically, neither the public nor the press can get to them easily, as David McCraw, deputy general counsel for the Daily News, testified. Indeed, the city is delinquent in meeting federal requirements of the 1974 Freedom of Information Act and its state equivalent, the Freedom of Information Law. Better access to public information would result in more innovative uses of the information to educate the public on issues.

Community Access

Non-profit organizations and small-businesses suffer from poor access to information technology. Many of them are still using dial-up connections to the Internet (if they are lucky enough to have access) and 85 percent of computers are not state-of-the-art. According to Barbara Chang, executive director of NpowerNY, a non-profit technology assistance provider, 83 percent of non-profits want greater access to cutting-edge technology.

Tech Czar Several experts who testified recommended the creation of a top administration official to advocate for technology issues and chart a visionary technology policy for the city. Without clear support, planning and training at the highest levels, Birdsell testified, technology strategies are likely to fail.

There is currently no city official to plan a strategy that covers the social issues (openness, access) involved in technology policy. The Tech Czar would work closely with the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications (which has the cute acronym DoITT, or Do It), which manages the technical side. A czar could also revive the Commission on Public Information and Communication (whose acronym, CoPIC, isn't particularly cute), which was created by the 1989 charter in order to increase citizen access to public information. Despite the huge potential for improving citizen access to government documents via the Internet, the commission has rarely met since it lost its funding in 1991, four years before the invention of the web browser. As a result, the city is often accused of having abysmal standards for public information.

The next public hearing of the Select Committee on Technology in Government will be held at 10AM on May 6 at Councilmember Brewer's City Hall Office at 250 Broadway, 16th Floor.

The first meeting of the Select Committee on Technology in Government, entitled "Using Technology to Make Government Smart, Cost-Effective, and Open" and headed by Councilmember Gale Brewer, offered testimony by some 15 experts on a range of issues connected to "e-government."

Efficiency The goal of city government should be to eliminate all paperwork and put everything on-line, David Birdsell of Baruch College. testified. This will take some doing. Currently only 50 percent of New Yorkers have access to the Internet from their homes.

A good start would be to use the Internet for the process by which private firms get city contracts, said Marcia Van Wagner, deputy research director of the Citizens Budget Commission, which, she said, could save the city about $135 million a year. The recommendations are outlined in the commission's report "No Small Change" (available online in PDF format). The current procurement system wastes 12 million sheets of paper according to one estimate.

Openness While the government stores public documents electronically, neither the public nor the press can get to them easily, as David McCraw, deputy general counsel for the Daily News, testified. Indeed, the city is delinquent in meeting federal requirements of the 1974 Freedom of Information Act and its state equivalent, the Freedom of Information Law. Better access to public information would result in more innovative uses of the information to educate the public on issues.

Community Access

Non-profit organizations and small-businesses suffer from poor access to information technology. Many of them are still using dial-up connections to the Internet (if they are lucky enough to have access) and 85 percent of computers are not state-of-the-art. According to Barbara Chang, executive director of NpowerNY, a non-profit technology assistance provider, 83 percent of non-profits want greater access to cutting-edge technology.

Tech Czar Several experts who testified recommended the creation of a top administration official to advocate for technology issues and chart a visionary technology policy for the city. Without clear support, planning and training at the highest levels, Birdsell testified, technology strategies are likely to fail.

There is currently no city official to plan a strategy that covers the social issues (openness, access) involved in technology policy. The Tech Czar would work closely with the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications (which has the cute acronym DoITT, or Do It), which manages the technical side. A czar could also revive the Commission on Public Information and Communication (whose acronym, CoPIC, isn't particularly cute), which was created by the 1989 charter in order to increase citizen access to public information. Despite the huge potential for improving citizen access to government documents via the Internet, the commission has rarely met since it lost its funding in 1991, four years before the invention of the web browser. As a result, the city is often accused of having abysmal standards for public information.

The next public hearing of the Select Committee on Technology in Government will be held at 10AM on May 6 at Councilmember Brewer's City Hall Office at 250 Broadway, 16th Floor.

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